The Con House
by The Lovely Muse
Summary: "This time," he whispered fiercely. "This time, I'll choose you and no one else." For a second, she almost believed him. But then she remembered that this was a mission and that pretending was what they did best.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

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**The Con House**

**Chapter One

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"I'm assigning you to a S-rank mission."

To say that she was surprised would've been a terrible understatement. To say that she was horrified would've been another. When Hinata Hyuuga was called this morning in her compound to go to the Hokage's office immediately under strictly undisclosed circumstances, she'd initially expected something along the lines of an A-rank mission that required the skills of someone from her clan. After all, those have always been the types of missions she'd be assigned to. Not the missions that Neji went on that required great physical strength, but the passive, observational ones that put her ability to blend into the background and Byukagan to good use. She never went on S-rank missions. Never.

Until now, apparently.

This had to be some sort of joke, Hinata decided rather firmly to herself. A rare prank from the talented medic-healer who had risen to become the idolised person she was today to the citizens of Konoha. But no sooner did that thought cross her mind, she glanced at the Hokage – lips turned downwards in a severe frown, green almond-shaped eyes stern – and deflated. No. This was definitely not a joke. The utter seriousness on her face could not be feigned even if she tried to.

But that didn't make sense. Why would she be assigned to a S-rank mission? Granted, it was perfectly allowed for non-ANBU to go on these types of missions as well but they had to be an extremely skilled jounin– like Kakashi or someone else of his level and expertise.

Or, in other words: not her.

"Hokage-sama," she started, treading carefully on her words. It was not a secret that the blonde woman had a legendary reputation for having a quick temper that was best to avoid. "Please forgive me but I...I think you might have made a mistake. This is far out of my comfort zone– I'm in no way capable of completing a mission of that rank."

"And why not?" The Hokage raised a perfectly arched eyebrow as she leaned forward inquiringly on her desk, manicured hands clasped in front of her. "You're twenty-one years old and a fully-fledged jounin. What more do you need?"

Hinata considered her answer, staring down at her sandal-clad feet while she did so. In her mind, there were many reasons why she wouldn't be able pull off a S-rank mission. For one thing, – despite the diminishing occurrences of her stutter – she was still shy. Embarrassingly, so. Sure, she was a bit more confident with herself now but by no means was she as self-assured as Temari or as tough-as-nails as Tenten: she couldn't even look at her father in the eye properly; despite the improvement in their relationship as of late.

If she went on this mission, chances were, she'd blush so badly their target would be able to read her like an open book.

Which brought her to her second reason. The target. Apart from the enemies faced in the war, she had never killed anyone. Harmed them, yes; but never killed. Most of the time, S-rank missions equalled assassinations. Depending on whether the victim relented with or without a fight, their death could be short and relatively painless or slow and torturous until the shinobi extracted the information they needed.

Hinata shivered.

She hated the thought of killing someone in cold-blood– especially if they were a civilian. As a kunoichi, she knew death was inevitable in her line of duty but it still didn't stop her from trying to avoid it whenever she could. The war had provided her with enough violence to last her a lifetime.

And also, what if the mission included bedding a man? With a stranger, no less? Ino had told her once that there were numerous occasions where she had to resort to sexual means in order to gather vital information. The mere thought of it made Hinata flush. Ino was a sensual seductress that knew how to use her womanly wiles to her liking. She, on the other hand...did not.

The point was, whatever this mission entitled, Hinata knew for a fact that it wasn't for her. Any of it. At all. At least, not now.

"Hinata?"

Startled, she looked up to see the Hokage tapping her fingers rather impatiently on the desk. Hinata tugged a lock of her ebony hair nervously, realising she had still not given her a direct answer. She really didn't want to disappoint the Hokage but..."I'm just not ready," she whispered finally.

A pause.

"Nonsense. Almost everyone your age has successfully accomplished a S-rank mission," The Hokage declared brusquely, "I could easily hand this over to Sakura or Ino who are more than capable at doing this, but I'm not going to. I've been too lenient on you for the past year. It's high time for you to grow up and commit to your duty."

She re-focused her attention to the chip on the Hokage's shoulder, a whirlwind of guilt churning inside her at the words which were just thrown critically at her. "I know."

The Hokage eyed her speculatively. "Don't take this as a punishment, Hinata. The whole point of choosing to become a kunoichi is being able to reach your full potential in serving Konoha. What I'm doing is simply pushing you forward instead of dragging you backwards as you're so inclined to do these days. I hope to see a noticeable improvement when this mission is over. Trust me when I say that I expect you to put all your effort into this– I don't take weakness or foolishness of any kind."

"...of course, Hokage-sama." Hinata hung her head, despairingly. There was no point convincing the Hokage otherwise now. Once the woman made up her mind, that was it– defying her would be like telling Kiba to spend a day without Akumaru by his side.

"Good," The Hokage nodded and clapped her hands together in satisfaction. "That's what I want to hear."

Hinata smiled, albeit shakily. The fear and anxiousness was beginning to bundle together into a twisted ball of misery as the endless questions ran through her mind. How many people would she have to kill? Was she going to come back alive? Did she need to ask for advice from Ino? She stifled a shuddering breath. _Breathe_, she reminded herself.

"– Are you alright?"

Hinata unconsciously rubbed her forehead with the back of her palm. A few drops of sweat dripped from her hand where she wiped it on her pants. She nodded slowly in response. "Sorry, Hokage-sama. I was, just...um, thinking. When does this mission begin, exactly?"

The Hokage's forehead creased in her concern –a contradictory expression to her earlier mood– but she gave no other indication of her worry as she spoke. "Two days. Three, at the most. Travelling and such will take approximately a week so I'd prefer it if you left as soon as possible."

"Oh." That was hardly enough time to prepare. Hinata stared unseeingly outside the window behind the Hokage. She continued, "How long will it go for?"

"Depends. A month, if you're lucky." The Hokage shrugged offhandedly. "Three if you're not. It would be best if took your time though. We don't want anything regarding this mission to be traced back to Konoha."

"And..." Hinata closed her eyes briefly. This was it. The big question. "What exactly are details of this mission?"

The Hokage faltered for a split second before saying, "I'll tell you when you're partner get's here."

"Partner?" Hinata felt the weight in her stomach lift considerably. "This is a two-partner mission?"

"Of course. You really didn't expect me to send a beginner S-rank jounin on a solo mission, did you?" The Hokage asked sceptically. Hinata blushed. "You're going to be teamed up with an ANBU."

"Kiba?" Hinata asked hopefully. Kiba had just passed as ANBU two weeks ago along with Shino. She would be so much more comfortable and less nervous if she went with him because they'd been teammates since they were children. She wouldn't mind going with Shino either, but he was on a mission of his own right now.

"Not exactly." Was it her or was the Hokage looking rather tense?

"Oh."

"You know him though," The Hokage added quickly. She then glanced up at Hinata and hesitated. "Keep in mind that I put the two of you together because everyone else is on a mission or recovering from their previous ones."

Hinata mentally went through the ANBU shinobi she knew. Lee? No, he was on a mission with Gai. Neji? He was recovering from a broken spine. Shikamaru? Possibly, but he was too lazy. Chouji? He was still a jounin.

So, who else was there? She couldn't think of anyone else. Unless...

Unless...

Her face paled and Hinata was suddenly overcome with the urge to faint for the first time in years. And the last time she felt like this was when–

"Hokage-sama," she gasped as the realization hit her. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't. It _couldn't_. "Are you putting me on a mission with–?"

"Yes." The Hokage cut her off tersely. "You will be going with him. I need this mission to begin as soon as possible and the only way I can do that is to assign you with the only ANBU that is available at the moment."

Suddenly the mission didn't seem so important with the revelation that had just been put in place.

"Isn't there anyone else?" The desperation in her voice was clearly evident.

"No, there isn't. I'm sorry Hinata, but my word is final."

Hinata fought back the tears that threatened to fall. She tried one last time. "Please, Hokage-sama. I beg you to reconsider. I don't think I can handle being on a mission with him. I haven't even spoken to him since–" she bit her lip. "Since what happened."

"This will be a perfect opportunity to remedy your relationship then. Look, I know what you went through was traumatic but it's been four years, Hinata. Four years."

"He left me there to die," she said in a barely audible voice. "I had to stay there for three months because he left me there to die. I can't just...forget."

The Hokage looked at her sympathetically. "He didn't have a choice."

"He had a choice. He just didn't pick me." Hinata didn't mention how she spent the year afterwards plagued with nightmares and unable to leave the Hyuuga compound without being paranoid.

Everyone already knew that.

"Hinata–" The Hokage began but stopped.

The door was slowly opening.

Hinata turned around.

A young man clad in the black uniform of an ANBU had entered the room. With a bloodied katana gripped tightly in one hand and an equally bloody scroll in the other, he looked like quite a frightening sight. Because of the mask of a grinning fox on his face, the only way she could identify him was by the golden hair on his head that poked out in all directions.

He tore off the mask to reveal a tanned, whiskered face that looked shocked at the sight of her. "Hinata?"

Lifting her eyes to meet his, Hinata softly uttered one word.

"Naruto."

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**A/N: **Okay, I put this story off for so long it's not even remotely funny anymore. And if that's not bad the worst part is, I did that to all my stories. My New Year's Resolution: Stay on fanfiction and update stories whenever I can. I really want to finish these stories and start new ones as well. I had a writer's block with my original plan to lead this story so now I'm tweaking the plot. I'm happy to say that I now have an outline of where this is going to go. There was hardly any Hinata/Naruto interaction in this chapter but I promise there will be _much _more moments in the coming chapters. Look forward to an update in the coming weeks and review so I'll stop procrastinating and write. :)


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